Maine Game Warden Pilot Killed in Plane Crash During Solo Flight

Maine Game Warden Pilot Joshua Tibbetts was killed when his plane crashed during a solo flight, and investigators are working to determine the cause.

By Ethan Andrews

Source Bangor Daily News, Maine

May 13, 2026

2 min read

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Maine Game Warden Pilot Joshua Tibbetts died Tuesday when his aircraft crashed near Schoolhouse Pond in Avon while he was flying solo.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by federal authorities, with an emergency signal from the plane alerting dispatchers.
The veteran warden, who joined the service in 2008 and held multiple specialized roles, is the first Maine game warden to die in the line of duty since 2011.

Maine Game Warden Pilot Joshua Tibbetts, a longtime member of the state's warden service, was killed Tuesday in a line-of-duty plane crash, marking the agency’s first such loss in more than a decade.

The Maine game warden who died in a plane crash on Tuesday morning has been identified as 50-year-old Joshua Tibbetts.

Tibbetts was piloting the plane alone when he crashed about 11 a.m. near Schoolhouse Pond in the Franklin County town of Avon, according to Mark Latti, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, officials said they don't yet know what caused Tibbetts' plane to go down. They have been in communication with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, wh will be investigating the crash.

The wardens' planes are equipped to automatically send out a signal if they crash, which Tibbetts' did, alerting an emergency dispatch center on Tuesday, officials said.

Tibbetts' career with the Warden Service started in 2008. He worked in Down East, Central, and southern Maine districts and was a part of the Incident Management Team, search planning and unmanned aerial vehicle program, and served as a drug recognition expert, according to a 2023 Facebook post announcing his promotion to game warden pilot.

His death was the first in the line of duty for a game warden since March 2011, when pilot Daryl Ray Gordon's plane crashed onto a frozen Clear Lake near Ashland in Aroostook County. At least 16 game wardens have died in the line of duty in the agency's 146-year history.

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